This essay will explore Wong Kar-Wai’s relationship with genre within the context of the Hong Kong film industry, along with Wong’s various international influences, in order to argue, Chungking Express was a major turning point in his career in terms of his complex relationship with various elements of film genre.
Contextualising genre within the Hong Kong film industry:
Of all the international film industries across the globe Hong Kong is certainly one that is synonyms with genre cinema. Considering the commercial nature of its film industry, it seems only appropriate that when discussing Hong Kong cinema as a whole, genre seems to be a frequent and integral part of the conversation. The Hong Kong film industry was built to turn a profit and has become the dominant figure in all of East Asian cinema, relying heavily on exporting its films to Mainland China and Taiwan, as well as local box-office sales. Ding-Tzann Lii describes this relationship as one of ‘marginal imperialism’ and compares the Hong Kong industries hold over East Asia to that of Hollywood’s over the rest of the world. (1998: 125) However, with such a large demand for product Hong Kong has struggled to produce enough films each year to maintain its industries growth. Production rapidly became focused on making films quickly, cheaply and with the intention of being sold easily. The industry became much like a factory, producing films in an assembly line fashion, often pushing films into production without a
This essay explores the popularity of Australian film, both locally and internationally and asks the question: Is there a crisis in the Australian Film Industry? This essay will go through the current issues the Australian Film Industry and will demonstrate examples of those problems.
A film genre is a motion picture category based on similarities in either the narrative elements or the emotional response to the film. While films have at least one major genre, there are a number of films that are considered crossbreeds or hybrids with three or four coinciding genre or sub-genre types that they can be identified with them and most can be filed into categories that are easily recognizable to audiences (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 1998, p. 4.1). However, ever so seldom a film comes along that breaks free of its invisible bounds of genre and it leaves the audiences confused about the actual existence of genre. One such film is a film that most are familiar with Steven Spielberg’s classic Saving Private Ryan.
Description: Compare two Western films made at least twenty years apart on the basis of the three of the five frameworks studied in the first block of the unit, and the elements of the western genre studied in the second block of the unit.
In the essay “Hollywood Warms to Asian Movies, American-Style” Renee Graham talks about how Hollywood remakes Asian movies. There are many advantages and disadvantages of these remakes. One advantage is that the remakes bring attention to the original version. Another advantage is that people in America get exposure to foreign films. A disadvantage is that these remakes are not as good as the original ones.
Comparing the Narrative and Formal Devices of ChungKing Express and A Bout de Souffle Wong Kar Wai’s movie ‘ChungKing Express’ bears many similarities to Godard’s ‘A Bout de Souffle’. To start with, Wai employs a number of cinematic techniques, obviously derived from the French New Wave, such as for example the jump-cut which is evidently taken from Godard’s film. His use of the Godard-ian jump cut seamlessly blends temporally-exclusive scenes together, making the passage of time unnoticeable. Other Godard-ian touches include the many shots of clocks, which remind the viewer that despite the protagonist’s fixation on the past, time continues to move on and that moments in the present are
Development and adaptation of the western genre has occurred throughout the twentieth century in relation to the shift in context, this is still relevant. Stereotypes of a western genre and the context are determined by the time in which the film is being produced. The time in which they were produced determine how social construction, gender ideas, values and attitudes, the setting and SWAT codes are demonstrated. I have chosen to present this speech by looking at the film studied in class, and a film of my choice and how the difference in context has changed in the tie of these two films.
Transnationalism in Pan’s Labyrinth Part 1: Transnational Aspects of Pan’s Labyrinth In the film industry, there has been considerable transformation on the relationship among local, national and global aspects of film production, exhibition and distribution. Filmmakers are increasingly adopting themes, production, exhibition, and distribution strategies that go beyond nationalism. Pan’s Labyrinth is an example of a transnational film depicts the transnational practices particularly in funding and other aspects such as film production, exhibition, distribution (Madison 195-196). This essay argues that Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that depicts an increasing nature of films to move beyond isolationist stance of nationalism in aspects such as funding, production, exhibition and distribution.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,
In subsequent years following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China came a revolutionary new approach to not only producing films, but also film’s very role in communist society. During this period the state gained complete control of the filmmaking industry, decreeing that the utilitarian functions of art and literature were to become a powerful weapon in serving the revolutionary struggle. In an otherwise artistically stifling period in which socialist realism pervaded all creative outlets, Xie Jin managed to retain some autonomy and emerged as one of the cleverest Chinese directors in the early 1960s. In his 1961 film Red Detachment of Women, Jin provides a classic revolutionary melodrama, yet also displays elements of formalism so that the viewer becomes conscious of the manipulations of his film technique. To analyze this film, I will use Mao Zedong’s 1942 “Talks at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art,” clip #10 “Landmark 2,” and clip #6 “We are joining the red army” to elaborate on the major themes and cinematic style that distinguish Xie Jin’s work from his contemporaries.
Despite the fact that Asian Americans have been in Hollywood for decades, there are very few positive representations of them in film. More often than not, they’ve been depicted as stereotypical caricatures, and more specifically, as foreigners who can’t speak grammatically correct English. Moreover, the negative representations of Asian Americans in film has perpetuated certain misconceptions about their culture. Chan is Missing (1982) calls for more genuine representations of Asian American identities through its cast of complex characters and defiance of Asian stereotypes. The film also urges its viewers to critically think about their own notions of identity through the use of several recurring themes and filmmaking techniques.
Film genre classifications are integral in the creation of audience expectations. Consequently, genre devices such as stock characters can be manipulated to mislead viewers. This was successfully accomplished in Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir, Chinatown. While the film features many of the stylistic and narrative aspects associated with the genre of film noir, the representation of the femme fatale sets it apart from the original noirs of the 1940s and 50s. A femme fatale is characterised by her beauty and her desire to lead men to their destruction through deception and seduction.
The costs, methods of distribution, and themes of Hollywood and Nollywood films reflect strongly their target audiences; how the target audience affects the production of a film and how the production of a movie is designed to capture a specific
In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.
This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.
Mazierska discusses the overarching theme “trapped in presence” in Wong Kar Wei’s movie as postmodern implication that correlates to Wong’s addicted uses of montage and symbolism in narration and editing (p8, Mazierska). As he considers, Wong’s works share the similarity with several postmodern authors. “The notion of alternative temporalities is central to the narrative organization to postmodern novels, such as those of Italo Calvino and Alain Robber-Grillet.”(p17, Mazierska and Rascaroli). James Udden also argues in “the Stubborn Persistence of Local In Wong Kar-wai” that Wong’s popularity is credited to his typically post-modern philosophy of denying his Hong Kong identity and embracing it at the same time (finnayson, p143). In some more relevant cases, Flannery Wilson discusses Wong’s overlapping narration between presence and future in 2046 as the manifestation of Deleuze’s theory of “crystal of time,” vaguely alluding to the notion that virtual and the real intermingles in 2046 (p164, Finnayson). Brunette also postulates that the sense of resisting the advancement of time correlates to what the Fredric Jameson terms as “longing for the present. (Teo, p358) ” Although it is evident that every production of Wong concerns the subject of love, few theorists have been found so far who posit Wong’s interpretation of love in a post-modernistic framework. The one who got closest to this